A Research Journey from Then to Now: Investigation of $^{100,101}$Pd

Structural evolution is traditionally described as a function of nucleon number. Instead, changes in structure as a function of angular momentum can be identified using the E-Gamma Over Spin (E-GOS) method. Excited states in $^{100,101}$Pd were populated in an experiment performed at the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University following the reaction $^{12}$C + $^{92}$Zr $\rightarrow ^{100,101}$Pd + $x$n. Data were collected at four beam energies: 66 MeV, 68 MeV, 70 MeV, and 75 MeV. Eight HPGe detectors in the SPEEDY array detected gamma ray decay from high spin states. I will interpret results within the E-GOS framework discuss the impact of the CEU program on my own research path. This work has been supported by U.S. DOE under grant number DE-FG02-91ER40609.